Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust receives Garfield Weston funding

Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust has successfully won a grant of £50,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation, which will support the work of Barnsley Museums.

The funding will help Barnsley Museums’ day-to-day running, with an emphasis on enhancing education, community engagement and learning opportunities. In the past year, Barnsley Museums welcomed over two million visitors, driven by a dynamic programme of high-quality, innovative exhibitions and events.

The grant will enable the Museums service to continue their excellent work in the community, which in 2024-25 included

• Engaging 6,096 school pupils with heritage and museums, from 104 different schools, by delivering a total of 115 workshops either onsite, online or in the classroom, and hired out 19 loan boxes.

• Over 34,000 families participated in intergenerational activities including trails, family workshops, early years activities reflecting on local heritage and museum collections. 

• 637 children attended regular early years sessions.

• 3,000 participants took part in community arts activities, including socially isolated older people and young people struggling with mental health.

Matt O’Neill, Executive Director for Place, said: “We are very grateful to the Garfield Weston Foundation for their generous grant and to Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust for their continued support. This funding will help us continue to deliver family and learning activities, community projects, protect our collections and give residents and visitors places to enjoy arts and culture.’’